My food isn't cooked aka... C'mon now!!!

So I'm on vacation otherwise known as NOT AT WORK so AK and I decided to do a one day excursion to Carlsbad.  Along the way, we decided to try Raya at the Ritz Carlton Hotel.  The drive down was pretty uneventful.  I had made reservations for 11:30 am because I wasn't sure if it would be busy.  Because of traffic possibilities and a woefully out of date toll road rate online (it said 3.00 off peak but in actuality it was $5), we took the 73 toll.  It was a nice peaceful drive for that stretch and it was like a good 25 minutes.

When we arrived, Dana Point was overcast and dreary.  The Ritz Carlton is set overlooking the cliff and we had to valet park.  If you eat at the restaurants, it costs $5.  When we arrived, we were greeted by the concierge and she informed us that the wonderful floral arrangements are changed every four to five days:

Because of the overcast skies, we were able to look outside and see a pretty nice view from our table.  The restaurant didn't have that many people and there is a walkway leading down to the beach where there were surfers and joggers taking advantage of the milder weather.

Because we had a drive ahead to Carlsbad, we decided to do the small plates and share.  In the past, I've had hits and misses with small plates.  They are either really, really small or just right.  I was worried about feeling hungry but at the same time being sleepy since I was driving.  We had a nice little selection of bread with a creamy ricotta like spread, a salsa of sorts and butter to munch on before our plates arrived.  We settled on three plates to share: Ceviche Mixto, Wagyu Beef Churrasco and Rock Shrimp Quesidilla. 

The Ceviche Mixto had the rock shrimp, calamari, octopus, corn, mandarin and heart of palm with a thick anji panca sauce.  It had a side of plantain chips that were very oily but thinly sliced like they didn't have time to drain properly. Personally, I liked the hardier, thicker plantains chips from Porto's.  The sauce was like a thick orange concentrated juice reduction but quite tangy.  However, I did feel like I needed to add salt to it. 

The Waygu Beef Churrasco was cooked medium rare which I was shocked about since AK does NOT eat.  She would eat WELL DONE but she ordered.  It came with the yuca fries and again, the fries came greasy.  It's like they didn't take the time to use a paper towel or a drainer to drain the food.  I'm sort of glad I didn't get the side of fries (which if you've read this blog know I love).  The beef was very tender but I guess I had higher expectations for Waygu beef.  I expected it to be like "buttah".  As expected, AK sort of gnawed the edges off the second slice of beef and even with the chipotle hollindaise and seasoning, it still felt like it was missing something, like a flavor or spice.

The final dish was the rock shrimp quesadillas.  I have to say this:  they look so cute.  I'm sorry but who makes flour tortillas that small nowadays except for restaurant service.  LOL  The quesadillas were light and had nice pieces of shrimp and just enough cheese.  They were so petite that it was difficult to really get a lot of the tomatillo-chipotle salsa and avocado crema on them.  However, it was nicely down.



Our experience was tempered by a rather demanding couple sitting next to us.  I felt so bad for the servers and ultimately the restaurant manager who had to deal with them.  I believed they ordered a calamari dish and split it between themselves.  She had eaten her portion and halfway through he decided he didn't like it and sent it back.  Then they order the Pan Seared Sea Scallops and the drama began.  I believe they must have sent it back at least three times and again, he did the same thing of eating halfway and sending it back.  The restaurant manager got so exasperated that she ultimately gave them something else to try after redo his plate YET again and him wanting to send it back AGAIN.  While I was waiting for AK, she kept glancing over to our table giving me a dirty look like I didn't belong there.  Just because she was a Chanel toting, sunglass wearing woman doesn't mean she was better than me! :P

The Raya was a very nice place to go to but I don't know if I would go back if the patrons are as rude as the experience I had yesterday.  Just because you are over 50 doesn't mean you have class or money.